Rugged Interdependency - Amaravati Buddhist Monastery

Golden Highways Revisited: 1998May 10 th – Visākhā PūjāOnce again the gods were kind and the day dawned to clear blue skies and livelybirdsong.The morning hours were filled with the bustle of the tidying up of the VisākhāPūjā things, arranging more flowers and offerings that arrived with the incomingvisitors, making notices, and the spirited bonhomie of a widespread religious communitygathering for a blessed and unique occasion. It was a great joy to see somany old friends and acquaintances, plus a few new faces, meeting and greetingand delighting in each other’s company, all drawn together to celebrate one man’sefforts to let go of everything.As Joseph Campbell pointed out, in Oriental Mythology, it’s the greatest ofironies that it is when the Buddha finally breaks back into the void, that the worldbursts into bloom and mandarava blossoms rain down from the sky. When he givesthe first discourse and Kondañña sees the Path, all the heavens ring with applause,and at the final passing away – “going beyond the sphere of knowledge of godsand humans” – the earth quakes in respect and the sāla trees burst forth in blossomout of season, heavenly music fills the air. Why do the devas, who delight in beautifulthings, celebrate when the heart aspires to transcendence of the world? Becausethe good heart knows that the consummation of life lies in the complete abandonmentof attachment to, and identification with it. The most beautiful thing in all theUniverse is the heart utterly freed of the sense of time, identity and location – andthe devas love the beautiful.Glen McKay arrived to take pictures (one of n + 1 cameras here today) and,by 12:45, most of the folks were processing up the hill for the ceremony. I waitedat the house for Rev. Heng Sure, one of Master Hua’s senior monastic disciples; hewas fashionably late but eventually arrived at 1:20, providing just enough time foreveryone to sit a while and quieten down.The ordination platform had been set up by Ven. Kataññuto with exquisitetaste, including the large batik, of Sujātā offering milk rice to the Bodhisattva,behind the shrine. With walls of moss-clad oaks and a roof of sky we carried out ourSangha-kamma with great precision, it got a little chilly as the sky clouded over fora while, but the assembly was more than warmed by the power of the event takingplace before their eyes: One man making his commitment to go forth and realizeNibbāna and his acceptance into the community of those who have similarly committedthemselves. “Ehi bhikkhu! – lead the holy life for the complete cessation ofdukkha.” Ajahn Pasanno justly got a round of applause for his anusāsana, the longlist of instructions recited solo by the Preceptor at the close of the ceremony.The day was far from done at the last “Sādhu!” – numerous were the well-wishingsand the gifts to the new bhikkhu and we all filtered down the hill, glowinggently from the goodness of the day and warmed by the sun-drenched banks ofthe hillside. Long hours of tea and talk, then a Sanghapala Board meeting (quitebrief) and, to finish the day, the recitation of the Pātimokkha (the monastic Rule). Itis an immovable fixture of the calendar, to be done every New and Full Moon, butthankfully Ajahn Vajiro was fully prepared (as it is a 45 minute long recital of about65